zlacker

Android is going to go closed source. There's no benefit to Google when a Chinese company takes Android, guts the Google parts, and shoves it on a cheap ass phone for a market with a few billion people.

Maybe longer still... I could see Google fully jettisoning the "other" phone makers and going all in on its own hardware to boost profits further. The iPhone is highly profitable, wouldn't you as a Google share holder want them to maximize the value there?

Personally I gave up on Android years ago. It was never great, but the endless poor support of software updates (mostly stemming from Qualcomm blobs as I understand it) was enough to drive me away. Apple really does support iPhone's for a very long time, and their sole goal isn't to sell more eyeballs. Good enough reason for me.

>>bfrog+(OP)
> There's no benefit to Google when a Chinese company takes Android, guts the Google parts, and shoves it on a cheap ass phone for a market with a few billion people.

There's nobody at Google who knows what to do with that kind of market leadership, so they're just folding up shop?

>>bfrog+(OP)
> There's no benefit to Google when a Chinese company takes Android, guts the Google parts, and shoves it on a cheap ass phone for a market with a few billion people.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! This might give them more credibility.

Anyway, I think we're a half decade past where android source has been worth stealing: China now has strong domestic competition.